Bundrage Wins, Spinks Career Over?

IOWA CITY, IOWA (BASN)—Saturday night we saw a requiem for a Junior Middleweight as Cory Spinks tried one more time to garner a junior Middleweight title and he knew that it could be his last shot at it. At 34, he was no longer the slick boxer of old and he was facing a strong tough fighter in Cornelius Bundrage, who had already stopped Spinks once.

Interesting enough, Bundrage was the older fighter but he looked the fresher and younger. Spinks needed to jab and revive the old boxing style that allowed him to stay near the top for years. For the first minute of the fight, Spinks jabbed, jabbed, jabbed but nothing was hitting and Bundrage kept moving forward while throwing his right. No one ever considered Bundrage the classic boxer and Bundrage decided to turn this fight into an ugly brawl. At the end of the first round, a Bundrage right hand sent Spinks down. This changed the fight as Spinks decided to change his strategy in the second round. Spinks knew that his jab was not working and he would be vulnerable to the Bundrage right. So he moved into the Valley of the Death and fearing no evil; Spinks attacked Bundrage body. He allowed the fight to become ugly but he figured that if he was going to lose, he was going on his shield. In the second round, he managed to unleashed body shots to Bundrage body and followed up with straight shots to the head.

During the second and third round, he stayed close to Bundrage and he appeared to be making an impact. In the fourth round, Spinks made a serious mistake that nearly ended the fight in the fourth round as he tried to hold Bundrage but in the process, he left himself open as Bundrage nailed him with upper cuts. Spinks spin away and looked shaken, but in the fifth round, Bundrage did not pressure Spinks and allowed Spinks to stay in the fight. Bundrage corner told their fighter that he was allowing Spinks and allowed Spinks to stay in the fight. By the end of end of the sixth round, the fight was close as Spinks neutralized Bundrage power by getting off first during a few rallies.

This changed in the seventh dramatically when Bundrage nailed Spinks with a right hand that sent him down. Spinks got up at the 8 count but there was no doubt that he was hurt. Bundrage attacked as he threw right hands after right hands and one of those right hands once again sent Spinks down. From this point, it was survival mode for Spinks as there was nearly two minutes left of the round with Bundrage following him. Spinks had very little left and on one occasion, he stood his ground and landed a left. This did little to stop the onslaught and Spinks retreated one more time before a final right sent Spinks down for good. The referee stopped the fight and effectively ended Spinks career as a contender.

Bundrage won his fight and is now hoping for one more big payday like a Saul Alvarez; who is still looking for a dance partner on September 15th. Bundrage, whose first exposure was The Contender series, has managed to be one of two Contender stars to win titles, the other being Sergio Mora. As for Spinks, the speed is gone and with eleven knockouts in 39 victories showed he was not a man who can depend upon power like Bundrage can. The fight simply was the last act in a career that had its up and downs but in the end, like his father Leon and Uncle Mike; Cory can say he had a belt.

Cuban fighter Erislandy Lara showed fighting public why he may be one of the best fighters in the junior Middleweight division as he put on a clinic in defeating Freddy Hernandez.

Other than the third round when Hernandez managed to pressure Lara, Lara dominated the fight and just as important; he showed the ability to adapt. After a round third round, Lara changed his style just slightly enough to allow him the spacing to hit Hernandez at will.

Punches went to the body, went to the head, and they came in different varieties, straight shots, hooks, and uppercuts. He put on a clinic for the boxing world and for Alvarez. If you are a member of team Alvarez, the lesson is that maybe you might want to find another opponent for your big fight September 15

th.

In between junior Middleweights auditioning for Alvarez, Gary Russell easily pounded Christopher Perez into submission as he delivered accurate combinations while avoiding many of Perez shots. Russell is one of the best American prospects in boxing today, combining power and speed.